Friar apologized in suicide note

Wednesday

Jan 30, 2013 at 12:01 AMJan 30, 2013 at 11:20 AM

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) - A Franciscan friar accused of molesting students at schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania decades ago stabbed himself in the heart after leaving a note apologizing for his actions, a coroner said.

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Franciscan friar accused of molesting students at schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania decades ago stabbed himself in the heart after leaving a note apologizing for his actions, a coroner said.

The note left by Brother Stephen Baker, whose body was found on Saturday at the St. Bernardine Monastery in Hollidaysburg, was “not addressed to anyone specific,” Blair County Coroner Patricia Ross told the Altoona Mirror.

Baker, 62, was named on Jan. 16 when the Youngstown diocese announced 11 legal settlements stemming from his alleged abuse of students at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren three decades ago.

Since then, Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston attorney involved in the Ohio cases, said former Kennedy students have come forward to allege abuse by Baker.

Attorneys said about

20 ex-students at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, Pa., have made similar accusations against Baker, who was a teacher and trainer with the baseball team. The former students allege that Baker assaulted or molested students under the guise of providing treatment or medical care.